Gallipoli
by RichKid106
Summary: Two young boys go to war expecting to become heroes but what they thought would be fun and heroic turns out to be their worst nightmare
1. Chapter 1

Gallipoli

"Come one and all and enroll into the royal Irish regiment. Yes you could help further the British Empire and destroy the Hun." Shouted the old officer with a thick Scottish accent.

It was a fine spring day in the lively city of Belfast, Ireland. The sun stood high up in the sky as residents of the city bustled through the streets. The laughter of women and the greeting of old friends hovered in the air. J

John-Patrick Barter was among the young men standing in line on front of a building with big letters reading "Recruitment Office." He had blond hair that resembled the wheat fields of Saskatchewan. Green eyes that outshined emeralds and made the Irish grass look like insignificant regular old lawn. He had a perfectly chiseled face. John waited, he could hardly contain his excitement, in a couple of minutes his name would be one of the millions to go down in history as one of the soldiers of the Triple Entente.

"John, John, there you are, I gave been looking all over for you." Said Eddie

"Well here I am" he said

Eddie looked up for a moment

"So you just couldn't ignore it? Even after I told you about all the horrors of this war" he said.

"I'm sorry ED but this is the chance of a lifetime. We could become heroes!"

"We whoa there John I think you should get that noggin checked out because I have absolutely no interest in joining this war!"

"Fine then but don't come begging me to help you find a girlfriend when there all with the war heroes." Said John

"Oh come on like that's going to happen, I'll have you know that the ladies have a knack for Eddie Brown" he said

John rolled his eyes and said "Yeah sure but it really will happen if you're not a war hero"

Eddie looked at John like if he was an idiot. John did not speak for a couple of seconds.

"Ok so maybe I made that up but you'd be considered a hero by everyone, and think of the stories we'll be able to tell.

Eddie thought for a moment looking confused and baffled. Finally he answered.

"Ok I'll do it, with the exception that you promise we'll become heroes"

"Deal" said John"

About half an hour passed and it was almost their turn just one more person to do.

"Name?" said the officer

"Stewart Pewdershmitt" said the boy

"Age?"

"Uh 14"

"Sorry can't let you in"

"What why not" asked Stewart

"Army regulations no one under 16 is allowed, now please step aside"

"Great we're doomed were not 16" said Eddie

"Relax" Said John "I have a plan"

"Next please" said the officer

"Name?"

"John-Patrick Barter"

"Age?"

"16"

"Are you sure"

"Of course I'm sure"

"All right then here's you're uniform and rifle you're battalion is the 16th and you leave in two days.

"Thank you sir"

"Next" shouted the military official

John waited outside the building over looking the harbor. In the distance a huge transport capacity. John could see all the men boarding the ship.

"Pretty soon I'll be with them" he thought

Eddie walked out, no expression sat upon his face.

"Well did you make it are you in? What battalion are you in?"

"Yes I made it but I'm not in the same battalion as you"

"What? Well which battalion are you in?"

John asked disappointed

"The 16th army" said Eddie  
"What there's no such thing is as"

And before john could finish his sentence Eddie burst out laughing. John gave him a light punch to the shoulder,

Eddie was the type to always joke about everything. He had a great sense of humor and the fact that John had fallen for that trick was utterly embarrassing. But the fact that Eddie could make you laugh even if you were in the foulest mood he would cheer you up. That was one of the main reasons him and John had become such good friends that and the fact that they shared the same interests. Eddie had jet black hair and brown eyes. He wasn't very tall but he was strong.

"So what battalion are you in" asked John

"The 16th"

John's face lit up

"We're in the same battalion and were going to war in two days."

"Yeah that's great well I'd better go pack"

"I'll see you bright and early on Monday" said John

Monday morning John woke up bright and early, he put on his kaki brown uniform tightened his belt strapped his gun around his shoulder and made his way downstairs. He quickly filled up his canteen grabbed a slice of toast and left a note to his parents explaining about him joining the army John lightly opened the door and tip-toed out of his house. Tears of both joy and sorrow filled his eyes. He was sad because he was leaving his family and life in Belfast but at the same tome he felt proud for he was about to become a hero for his country. John hailed a taxi. A black car stopped and John got in.

"Where to?" asked the taxi driver

"John Samuel Graham Shipyard"

As the taxi drove away from his house John began to question if he was willing to do this. The cabby pulled up in front of a colossal ship. John got out and saw Eddie

"You ready for this?" asked John

"Yeah" said Eddie

As the two 14 year old boys climbed up the ramp that look back upon the city that had raised them, they realized they might never see home again. They took a deep breath and entered the ship.

End of part 1


	2. Gallipoli part 2

In front of them was a desk with two young men, they were at least nineteen. The walls of the ship were covered with news letters and military posters.

"John look over there" said Eddie

John looked at the war poster Eddie was pointing at; it had two strong men standing of over countless dead German soldiers and it read: An Irish hero, 1 Irishman defeats 10 Germans. Join an Irish regiment today.

"Do you really think that we will be able to win this war?" asked Eddie.

"Of course we'll win! Don't you see the amount of soldiers on this boat? There must be at least five thousand. And don't forget about the other hundreds of thousands of men ready to take on the Hun. There's no way we can lose this war."

"Yeah I guess" said Eddie.

"Now come on it's almost our turn to register"

John and Eddie went over to the registry table.

"Name?" asked the sailor

"John-Patr"

"Not you your friend"

"Oh Edward Brown"

"Regiment?"

"The 16th"

"Alright Edward you are in room 26."

"Thank you sir"

"Next" yelled the officer

John stepped forward

"Name please?"

"John-Patrick Barter"

"Battalion?"

"The 16th"

"Alright then you will be sharing a room with you're friend"

John left the table and headed for the elevator. It was a cramped one, John barely had enough room to set down his duffle bag. There wasn't much in the elevator just a brown stool with black wooden legs. There was also a wheel that had the words "up" and "down" on each side in black paint, by turning the wheel it would activate a series of gears which allowed the elevator to go up or down. John turned the wheel to the right. After a couple of seconds the elevator arrived to the second floor. John grabbed his bag and walked down the hallway. The walls of the ship were quite simple. All there was was an occasional recruitment poster on the plain grey walls. John passed the rooms, 24, 25 and finally 26. He entered there a small desk on one side of the and on the other there were two hammocks and a sink, John dropped his bag jumped into the top hammock and dosed off. As he lay there all alone he found himself thinking of his parents and the people he left behind. He had been on this boat for no more than three hours now, but he still couldn't help missing them.

John awoke to a terrible sound. Screams of anguish and pain deafened him. John was hurled put of his hammock and on to the floor, the boat shook. Two sailors barged into his room and yelled

"Man your battle station sailor".

John lay on the floor paralyzed of fear and surprise, he didn't know what had happened, all he knew was that he had to get the hell out of here. He got to his feet and started running, he had to make his way to the upper deck. The grueling sight of the dead and the dying was too much to bear, John looked away. The foul stench of blood and tears filled the surrounding. There, in front of him there were boys calling for help. John rushed to help one of them. A young boy sat against the wall, his face white with anguish. John came toward him and yelled

"What's wrong?"

The young boy pointed at his leg, it had been torn off at the knee and as he sat there a river of tears poured down his face. John helped the boy up, he put his arm on his shoulder allowing the boy to limp.

"What's your name?" asked John

"Daniel" said the boy.

"Ok Daniel I need you to hold your knee, don't worry we'll find you help."

Daniel nodded. As the two boys made their way through the ship Daniel accidentally let go of his knee. The lower knee fell to the floor, Daniel stared at the knee bone, a bloody stump was where his knee was supposed to be. Suddenly Daniel began to yell.

"Hold it!" John screamed. He waited for Daniel pick it up.

"Hold it!" John yelled again. Daniel stopped screaming and obeyed him. The two boys continued walking. Another blow struck the ship. Daniel and John were thrown against a wall. John awoke moments later he was unable to lift his head, he tasted blood. John hears nothing, he sees nothing except for some blurry shadows. He tires to stand but he is unable to, he sees that a metal girder has fallen on him, he can only move his upper torso. Tears began to flow amply down John's face.  
"Please god...help me," he whispered.  
From the corner of his damp eye, John noticed a figure dressed in white, seeming to be pacing towards him. John extended his arm so that the figure could clutch it. Just as he was about to be drawn out of the deathtrap, John felt an immense amount of pressure crashing down on him, crushing his bones.

John's eyes opened, everything was calm and silent. He was surrounded by nurses and doctors.

"Oh good you're awake" said one of the nurses

She had dark red hair and brown eyes. She also had fair skin and ruby red lips.

"Where am I?" asked John

"You're in the infirmary" she answered

"What happened to me?" he asked

"Oh well the ship ran a mi… oh excuse me I have to go."

John exhaled and turned over and he saw Eddie sitting in the rocking chair beside his bed. He had a bandage on his hand.

"John, John, John we are not even on the battlefield you have already managed to injure yourself."

John chuckled, "Well you know me. What happened anyway?"

"Oh the ship ran a mine but no heavy damage was made but then a U-boat hit us."

"Is the ship ok?"

"Yes there are about a hundred repairmen working on it right now"

"Oh ok say what happened to your hand?"

"Oh I got a nail in it" said Eddie

"Ouch"

As the two boys kept talking a nurse came in.

"I'm sorry sir but you'll have to leave" she said to Eddie

"Alright, well get well soon John, you cant go fighting the Hun with injuries"

AS Eddie left John went back to sleep


	3. Chapter 3

Weeks passed before the shipped docked. In that time John's injuries had mostly healed and he was ready to fight. Unfortunately for John the fighting still hadn't come. The shipped had docked in Tunis, French North Africa. Eddie and John were lying in their room, John was reading a letter that he had just got from his parents. His mother wrote that she missed and she was very worried. His father said that he was proud to have his son into the army but if anything happened to John it would devastate both him and his wife. The parents also wrote about how their little business was doing. John's parents had started a chocolate shop when John was no more then 4 years old. As John read the letter he reminisced about when the cocoa beans would be made into sweet chocolate. Every time his mother made chocolate cake she would let John lick the spoon. In 8th grade he shared his first kiss with Kathleen Johnson in the store. From then on he knew that they were meant to be. A lot of memories were wrapped up in that store. Tears flowed from John's eyes. At the end of the letter his mother wrote him an Irish blessing.

"_**May the Irish hills caress you.**_

_**May her lakes and rivers bless you.**_

_**May the luck of the Irish enfold you.**_

_**May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you"**_

And as the tears continued to flow down John's face, he hoped that this blessing from his dear darling mother would help him through this new chapter of his life. Whether it would be fighting the Hun or possibly settling down and raising a family. John slipped the letter in his pocket and fell asleep.

Six days later the ship docked in the Italian port of Tripoli. The ship needed to restock. The men were divided into three groups. John, Eddie and another boy from Regina, Canada…his name was Fredrick. The three boys were assigned to go get some food for the ships crew. They had to get 6 lbs of salted beef and 15 lbs of salted chicken as well as 32 lbs of powdered soup. The boys headed off John had been giving 1290 liras.

"How on earth are we going to find this store…all the streets are filled with goats and camels. We might as well just take all the animals here and bring them back to the ship"

"Don't be so negative! I'm sure that we'll find it easily! Plus I like this city! It's got adventure written all over it!" said Eddie in an exited voice

The three boys walked around for about 30 minutes. The golden sun stood high up in the sky. His warm and golden rays were inviting and relaxing. The warm desert air somehow soothed John and his partners. John was not used to such a warm breeze. Growing up in Belfast he was used to the cold Belfast sea air.

"I could really live here, you know" Said Eddie

"Really?" Said John

"Yes, it's so nice and warm here! It's exotic and adventurous! Look around! I mean you have camels and monkeys and other exotic and intriguing animals! You can walk barefoot on the warm desert sand, it's like paradise!"

"I don't know Eddie it's a little to…backwards for me! I mean look the women are forced to cover themselves in drab long black robes. They're forced to cover up their faces. It's like we've gone back in time. In my opinion the Africans are nothing but a backwards and stupid people!"

"I actually agree with John, Eddie. I mean in Canada and everywhere else in the world woman are allowed to go to school and they can where whatever they want! Here they're all covered in black cloth and they've got like 50 kids around them! It's just disturbing!" said Fredrick in a soft and stern voice.

The three boys continued to talk and to walk down the street. They stopped at a little market called "Laa Likcho Hallas" behind the counter there was an old burly man. He had a red fez as well as a curved moustache.

"What is it that you are needed" he asked

"We would like 15 lbs of salted chicken please" Said John

The burly man went to the back with a knife. The faint scream of a live chicken was heard.

"That will be 850 lira please"

John and Eddie were in horror. They had never heard nor seen such things. The way that the poor chicken was ruthlessly slaughtered. The way that the butcher diabolically forced the chicken on the counter, and the final cluck the chicken gave before its life was ended. John felt sick to his stomach! The blood and organs of the chicken were just lying there, on the counter, in the sand! How could he handle the gruelling sights of war if this simple action of human survival made him nauseous? Was he in fact ready to face the Hun? Or was he just another boy that was swept away by patriotism.

The boys later returned to the ship with over 20 lbs of fresh meat. This was the last stop before Turkey. John was exited yet nervous was he in fact able to handle the scaring feeling of death and slaughter? Would he return home safely? Or would he to just be another victim of the Hun like so many others before him? The constant barrage of questions occupied his head. The time had finally come within three or four days he would be on the front fighting for his life.


End file.
